The Promises Stars Make
by iAir Nomad
Summary: The stars, with smoke from the fires dispersed, had never looked more beautiful than it did tonight, or more promising of positive expectations to the peaceful future that was slowly beginning to unfold. Takes place after the series. Canon pairings. R&R!


**Hey again, everyone! :D I figured I haven't done anything Avatar-related for a loooong time. I watched the finale on my DVD last night, though, and it got me inspired. Thus, this fanfic was born.**

**Takes place almost immediately after the series ends. Enjoy! :D**

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><p>Toph's bare, dirt-coated pads of her feet met the earth's cool exterior, and she smiled in the darkness of the night, loving this moment to be purely surrounded in her own element – and what better than to have her lifelong friends; her family, along with her?<p>

She smiled wider upon feeling these familiar grounds through her feet's incredible senses and she dug her toes into the grass.

"We're here," she announced to the other six members on Appa's saddle, who sat waiting for that exact confirmation. Katara jumped up.

"Toph! It's gorgeous! How did you find this place without us knowing?" She marveled, gaping at the completely deserted, endless hills—only touched by Toph's clever feet once before, and forever occupied by the millions of flowers and dandelions turned to seeds, as well as the heavens above them. The stars were marvelous, filling every inch of the sky and casting the perfect glow upon the field.

Toph shrugged in response to Katara's question, smiling knowingly to herself. "I have my ways, Sugarqueen." She left the group to explore the area further.

Why, you ask, was the newly crowned Fire Lord and the Avatar and his friends out laughing and dancing and playing in the middle of an untouched prairie at midnight?

The war was over.

And it was time to be children again. So much innocence lost when the cruel realities of war tore in between over the years, and the children were forced to grow up too fast. And finally now came an opportunity to regain all that was lost now.

Toph let a rare, childlike giggle escape; trudging through the soft plains as she took in everything with all her available senses, and her giggle was quite infectious. Aang's cheery laugh could be heard ringing in the cool, late-summer air, and his silhouette could be seen doing a high back flip off Appa's saddle that could only be achieved by an airbender such as himself. Sokka, Mai, Zuko and Suki followed, landing in a more realistic and safer manner. Sokka raised a fist to the air with his boomerang in the other hand as he gave out a loud southern-watertribe warrior call, announcing their victory in the war and their joy to be free again. But then, were they _ever_ truly free before this moment? When they thought about it, it was deemed impossible that they had once felt this exhilarating feeling before, even when they were children. As young children, they were trying to be blissfully ignorant of the war's existence, but all of that certainly changed when important figures or family members and loved ones were torn away from their small hands.

But then again, why waste this moment to _care_ and be instead in the present to rejoice in the reality of their long-awaited liberty?

Aang's hands twisted in circular motions as his legs carried him at inhuman speed, and he soon was riding an airball, floating just inches off the ground. His large grin and giddy emotions never wavered. Katara whooped and ran and threw her fists in the air with laughter. Toph's fingertips continued to silently caress the petals of the flowers as she walked on in other directions, smiling so big that she felt tears prickle her eyes at the realization that she'd never smiled his happily and genuine since… _ever_. She found her hazed eyes glancing up at the broad night sky – though she knew she would never be able to see the stars, she could make a rather accurate guess based upon Katara's description when she asked her out of the blue one evening.

Suki ran to join Sokka's side, laughing merrily as she playfully jumped up on her boyfriend's back and clung to him. The teen yelped at the sudden extra weight of Suki forcing him to give her a piggy-back-ride, but complied—with some slight struggle to regain his balance. Nonetheless, the couple had to laugh at the glorious ridiculousness of all this.

Mai and Zuko walked casually and with complete calm together through the flower-field, arms tightly looped. Mai cracked a small smile, secretly loving the sight of her newfound friends so undeniably happy, even her Fire Lord boyfriend, for once in his life, who turned his head to gaze up to the stars as their movement ceased to stand there and take everything in. Although his face was, for the most part, concealed from this angle… he couldn't hide his grin from Mai, who smirked in return at the sight.

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><p>Eventually, everyone unconsciously decided to regroup and sit cross-legged in a small circle beside the giant flying bison, who lie lazily in the flowers and listened to the conversations amongst the friends. Every now and again, Zuko attempted to crack a joke, which was usually so unbearably horrible, it was pure insanity <em>not<em> to laugh. Mai only pat him on the center of his back, smiling assuringly that she still loved him despite his awkward side.

Aang's laughter suddenly ceased and he tensed upon the sight of Katara beside him. "Katara… why are you crying?" He asked with a slight ache in his voice. All pairs of eyes turned to the young watertribe girl, who indeed had tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping off her chin. Her lips curled upwards as she brought up a gentle hand and rubbed her eyes, sniffling.

"I… I'm sorry, you guys…" She croaked. Aang was instantly pulling her into his arms for comfort with a most troubled expression, but she shook her head. She responded to Aang's kind gesture and threw her arms around his bare neck. He stumbled back, only a little, and felt his cheeks flare up. Still, though, upon finding his balance again, he embraced her tightly.

"Katara, what's wrong?" He murmured softly in her ear. Everyone continued to stare at the scene, waiting.

"Absolutely nothing is wrong, Aang," she chuckled through sobs. "I just… I love you all so much."

Instantly, two-out-of-seven teens rolled their eyes: Toph and Sokka.

"Typical of you to get like this, Katara. You're so happy you're _tearbending!_" Sokka snickered teasingly.

"Shut up! I can take back what I said, you know!" She attempted to sound threatening, but her small sniffles and small smile that she couldn't hold back was quite contradictory. She felt it was okay to be emotional, though, when Aang's hold around her tightened and he kissed her forehead, to which Sokka groaned and mumbled something under his breath about "oogies."

"It's alright, Katara," the young Avatar grinned softly. "We all love you, too. More than you'll ever know. Even mr. Wisebutt over there."

"Hey!" Sokka exclaimed. "I object to such a repulsive nickname!"

Each youthful teen, excluding the pouting watertribe warrior, laughed.

"I just," Katara gently released herself from Aang's hold and sat up straight, looking at each member of the group in the eye with overwhelming gratitude and sincerity. She brushed any lingering tears away another time. "I'm just… _so happy_. You all… you're like my long-lost family. When I was younger… I _never_would've guessed that I'd be sitting here with all of you in such prosperous times, telling you this now."

"'Destiny is a funny thing,' my uncle would say." Zuko said with a tiny crack of a smile.

"You're always loved, Katara." Aang smiled gently, and Suki confirmed this statement by resting a comforting hand on Katara's shoulder from the other side of where she sat.

"Thank you. All of you. From this day forward… I never want to part with any of you. You guys are literally my family now."

"That… goes for me, too…" Everyone turned awestruck at the sound of Toph's quiet reply, whom hadn't spoken a word the entire time. Like Suki to Katara, Zuko smiled with a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder.

There was a small moment of silence, where a gentle warm breeze picked up and caused the field to sway and appear from afar like ripples in a disturbed pond. It was only a split moment before everything became still again.

"Well, thank you guys for not dying." Mai said bluntly, allowing an easy smile to grace her lips.

"I really thought we'd be a goner, that's for sure." Sokka mumbled to which everyone nodded their heads in complete agreement.

"Hey, guys! I see shooting stars!" Suki exclaimed happily, pointing with her index finger to the dark blue, star-blanketed sky above. All heads, save for Toph's with her inability to see, tilted upwards. Sure enough, shooting stars zoomed by every couple seconds with varying intensity of glow. Nature, from the land to the sky, was glorious without the cares and sufferableness of the war, which finally ceased to exist.

At that point, no one spoke anymore. There wasn't any need to – the sound of blissful peace in silence was louder than words. Some heads came to rest upon others' laps or shoulders. Arms wrapped around others and pulled the other friend close, as they gazed and wished upon every single falling star for this peace to last lifetimes, if not forever. For the stars, with smoke from the fires dispersed, had never looked more beautiful than it did tonight, or more promising of positive expectations to the peaceful future that was slowly beginning to unfold; like a lotus flower blooming after it's dark travel to the surface of the pond, where promise was held for it's beauty.


End file.
